Heating and cooling of substrate support

Abstract

A process chamber and a method for controlling the temperature of a substrate positioned on a substrate support assembly within the process chamber are provided. The substrate support assembly includes a thermally conductive body, a substrate support surface on the surface of the thermally conductive body and adapted to support a large area substrate thereon, one or more heating elements embedded within the thermally conductive body, and two or more cooling channels embedded within the thermally conductive body to be coplanar with the one or more heating elements. The cooling channels may be branched into two or more equal-length cooling passages being extended from a single point inlet and into a single point outlet to provide equal resistance cooling.

1 . A substrate support assembly adapted to support a large area substrate inside a process chamber, comprising: 
 a thermally conductive body;    a substrate support surface on the surface of the thermally conductive body and adapted to support the large area substrate thereon;    one or more heating elements embedded within the thermally conductive body; and    two or more cooling channels embedded within the thermally conductive body to be coplanar with the one or more heating elements.    
   
   
       2 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein each of the two or more cooling channels comprises two or more branched cooling passages adapted to cover cooling of the whole area of the substrate support surface.  
   
   
       3 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 2 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are configured to be embedded within the thermally conductive body at equal total length (L 1 =L 2  . . . =L N ) and coplanar with the one or more heating elements.  
   
   
       4 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 2 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are adapted to be extended from a single point inlet and into a single point outlet to provide equal resistance cooling.  
   
   
       5 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 2 , wherein cooling fluid is adapted to be flown within the two or more branched cooling passages at equal flow rate.  
   
   
       6 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein cooling fluid selected from the group consisting of cooling gas, cooling liquid, water, clean dry air, compressed air, cooling oil, and combinations thereof is flown inside the two or more cooling channels.  
   
   
       7 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein cooling fluid is flown inside the two or more cooling channels at a temperature between about 10° C. to about 25° C.  
   
   
       8 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the two or more cooling channels are formed by a technique selected form the group consisting of forging, welding, friction stir welding, explosive bounding, e-beam welding, abrasion, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       9 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the thermally conductive body comprises an aluminum material.  
   
   
       10 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate support surface is adapted to be rectangular in shape and to support a large area substrate having a dimension of about 370 mm×about 470 mm or larger.  
   
   
       11 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate support assembly is configured to support one or more large area rectangular substrates for fabricating devices selected from the group consisting of solar cell, solar panel, flat panel display (FPD), flexible display, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, flexible organic light emitting diode (FOLED) display, polymer light emitting diode (PLED) display, liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic thin film transistor, active matrix, passive matrix, top emission device, bottom emission device, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       12 . A substrate support assembly adapted to support a large area substrate inside a process chamber, comprising: 
 a thermally conductive body;    a substrate support surface on the surface of the thermally conductive body and adapted to support the large area substrate thereon; and    one or more channels embedded within the thermally conductive body and adapted to flow a fluid therein at a desired temperature set point to heat and cool the substrate support surface.    
   
   
       13 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 12 , wherein each of the one or more channels comprises two or more branched passages adapted to cover heating and cooling of the whole area of the substrate support surface.  
   
   
       14 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 12 , further comprising a fluid recirculation unit connected to the one or more channels and located outside of the thermally conductive body to adjust the temperature of the fluid flown inside the one or more channels to the desired temperature set point.  
   
   
       15 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 14 , wherein the fluid is flown between the one or more channels and the fluid recirculation unit and the fluid is selected from the group consisting of heated oil, heated water, cooled oil, cooled water, heated gas, cooled gas, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       16 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 12 , wherein the fluid inside the one or more channels is flown at a desired temperature set point of from about 100° C. to about 200° C.  
   
   
       17 . A apparatus for processing a large area substrate, comprising: 
 a process chamber;    a substrate support assembly adapted to support the large area substrate, comprising: 
 a thermally conductive body;  
 a substrate support surface on the surface of the thermally conductive body and adapted to support the large area substrate thereon;  
 one or more heating elements embedded within the thermally conductive body; and  
 two or more cooling channels embedded within the thermally conductive body to be coplanar with the one or more heating elements; and  
   a gas distribution plate assembly disposed in the process chamber to deliver one or more process gases above the substrate support assembly.    
   
   
       18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein each of the two or more cooling channels comprises two or more branched cooling passages configured to cover cooling of the whole area of the substrate support surface.  
   
   
       19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are configured to be embedded within the thermally conductive body at equal total length (L 1 =L 2  . . . =L N ).  
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are configured to be extended from a single point inlet and into a single point outlet to provide equal resistance cooling.  
   
   
       21 . A substrate support assembly adapted to support a large area substrate inside a process chamber, comprising: 
 a thermally conductive body;    a substrate support surface on the surface of the thermally conductive body and adapted to support the large area substrate thereon;    one or more heating elements embedded within the thermally conductive body; and    two or more branched cooling passages adapted to be embedded within the thermally conductive body at equal total length (L 1 =L 2  . . . =L N ).    
   
   
       22 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 21 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are configured to be coplanar with the one or more heating elements.  
   
   
       23 . The substrate support assembly of  claim 21 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are configured to cover cooling of the whole area of the substrate support surface.  
   
   
       24 . A method for maintaining the temperature of a large area substrate inside a process chamber, comprising; 
 preparing the large area substrate on a substrate support surface of a substrate support assembly of the process chamber, the substrate support assembly, comprising: 
 a thermally conductive body having the substrate support surface thereon adapted to support the large area substrate;  
 one or more heating elements embedded within the thermally conductive body; and  
 two or more cooling channels embedded within the thermally conductive body to be coplanar with the one or more heating elements;  
   flowing a cooling fluid inside the two or more cooling channels; and    adjusting a first power source for the one or more heating elements and a second power source for the two or more cooling channels and maintaining the temperature of the large area substrate.    
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the temperature of the large area substrate is maintained constantly by a combination of turning on/off the first power source and the second power source.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the temperature of the large area substrate is maintained at a set point temperature which is between about 100° C. to about 200° C. with temperature uniformity of about +/−5° C. or less at the set point temperature.  
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein each of the two or more cooling channels comprises two or more branched cooling passages adapted to cover cooling of the whole area of the substrate support surface having a dimension of about 370 mm×about 470 mm or larger.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are adapted to be embedded within the thermally conductive body at equal total length (L 1 =L 2  . . . =L N ) and coplanar with the one or more heating elements.  
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein cooling fluid selected from the group consisting of cooling gas, cooling liquid, water, clean dry air, compressed air, cooling oil, and combinations thereof is adapted to be flown within the two or more branched cooling passages at equal flow rate.  
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the two or more branched cooling passages are adapted to be extended from a single point inlet and into a single point outlet.